Avatar 2: What We Know So Far

Weíve seen a lot of absolutely gigantic blockbusters over the last five years, from the record-shattering performance of Joss Whedonís The Avengers to Michael Bayís summer hit Transformers: Dark of the Moon to Christopher Nolanís Batman finale The Dark Knight Rises, but none of them have been able to come anywhere close to the high bar set by James Cameronís Avatar. Released in December 2009, the film continues to hold the record as the highest-grossing movie of all time, pulling in $2.782 billion worldwide. We have been patiently waiting for sequels to arrive ever since, and while the filmmaking team behind the franchise has been taking its time, they have some absolutely gigantic plans for the future.

Just like weíve done for The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Batman vs. Superman, and many other major upcoming blockbuster movies, we have put together a special guide to help all of you keep track of the latest developments of Avatar 2 and beyond. Who from the cast of the first movie is coming back? Where will the new story take us? Read on to find out!

The Director

The first Avatar was truly a passion project for James Cameron, as the filmmaker spent years and years developing both the script and the technological advancements that needed to be made, so you didnít really expect him to hand off the sequels to someone else, did you? Cameron will be coming back for not just Avatar 2, but for 3 and 4 as well. He has some big plans for the technology side of things, and has talked about both filming at higher frame rates using performance capture underwater. You can be sure that Avatar 2 will push the boundaries of what can be accomplished in modern filmmaking.

The Script

James Cameron was the lone-credited screenwriter on the first Avatar movie, but for the three sequels he has brought in a full team of collaborators who have helped him break down all three upcoming chapters of the franchise. Josh Friedman, who penned Steven Spielbergís War of the Worlds remake and was one of the key people behind the television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, was the first one to sign on, but he was followed by Rise of the Planet of the Apes veterans Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver and Armageddon's Shane Salerno, all of whom will be working side-by-side with Cameron. No plot details have been revealed yet, but the director has said that the sequels will introduce "whole new worlds, habitats and cultures," which very well could mean that we will get to meet some different kinds of intelligent alien species).

Jake Sully

This will come as a surprise to absolutely nobody, but the main character of Avatar is going to be coming back for the franchiseís sequels. Sam Worthington, who has spent the years since his breakout role in the original sci-fi blockbuster starring in movies like Clash of the Titans, Man on a Ledge and Sabotage, has signed a deal that will see him playing human-turned-Naívi Jake Sully for the next four years or so. It was the Aussie actor who first revealed the production start date last November, saying, "Iíll be grateful if it finishes. I think Jim is building the ship to Pandora, to be honest."